Nail Polish Marbled DIY Planters

A few weeks ago I bought way too many flowers for this project. So we’ve been planting like crazy, and, wow, the backyard is so much more inviting. Garden crafting is definitely a good motivator for giving your green thumb a workout. So if you have lots of nail polish sitting around at home here’s an easy project to get crafting and get planting.

DIY Planters with nail polish marbling

I kind of love nail polish – but not really for my fingers. After experimenting with eggs and wine glasses, the entire house is in danger of being marbled. This project requires more polish that you might want to part with though. So stock up at the Dollar Store for white, turquoise and some bright pinks.

Supplies:

Planters. I used my old terra cotta ones but I’m pretty sure this would work on any surface.

Nail polish.

Big bucket of water.

Step 1: Fill the a bucket about halfway with water and let it come to room temperature. It’s best to do this outside so you have good ventilation.

Step 2: Liberally pour in nail polish. Let it spread out over the water as much as possible. You can help it move with a tooth pick or even just shaking the bucket a bit. The more surface area of the water you cover the greater coverage on the pot.

Step 3: Dip the pot in the water. I found it worked best to dip the pot on its side and let the polish wrap around the sides. If you don’t cover the entire pot in one dip, then dip again if you like.

I love how each pot is different! Some colors definitely work better than others on this type of pot. Pink, yellow and turquoise were my favorites.

Do you think the paint penetrates terracotta pots when you paint them? Would it leach chemicals into the soil inside the terracotta pot and into your herbs if you did this to herb pots. I was thinking of using nail polish to paint the outside of a terra cotta garlic keeper, but didn’t know if the toxic nail polish would leach into the terracotta and “poison” my garlic stored inside…what do you guys think?

My 10yo and I actually made and had fun making these pots during the Australian school holidays. As for a “top coat/ cheap varnish alternative” I always use/ mix 1 part pva glue (woodworking glue) to 2-3 parts water (depends on weather on the day & how thick u want the coat. Sometimes I even use 4-5-6parts but paint a second coat) I then simply paint on with paintbrush! We put a top coat on our pots. Used 3 parts water & one coat- worked like a dream.

Thank you so much for sharing this project! Almost 3/4 of the day was spent happily in the yard. (Despite the 114 Fahrenheit days! Lol!)

Just be aware that nail polish contains a lot of toxic substances – some of them carcinogens – so gloves are a must. Great way to use up all those old bottles when you switch to a safe brand for your nails.

Painted terra cotta pots are popular these days and like these they are very pretty. If you are going to put living plants in painted pots don’t forget that in sealing terra cotta with any sort of paint the pot will no longer be able to breathe. Terra cotta is chosen for plants because of it’s natural porousness. It is the next best thing to planting in the earth. Between a plastic pot and a terra cotta pot, a plant of any kind will usually fare better in terra cotta.

You correctly point out that nail polish contains lots of poison, as most paints do, excepting nail varnishes are exceptionally toxic. Nail polish on a terra cotta planter will leach into the soil. To what degree will vary, but it will give a plant a hard way to go. I would suggest certainly never planting anything you wish to eat in a painted terra cotta pot.

Yea, so this turned out more messy than I thought! Is it very important that the water be room temperature? Do you do each color at one time? My nail polish ended up getting clumpy and glue-like so not sure what I did wrong!?

Good question, Burnadette. Mine totally did not turn out like the photos & my polish (which was new) clumped. It ended up being an ugly mess. I’d like to know how much of a bottle should be used? I chose 3 colors and poured the whole bottle of each color into the water. Too much?? ;-)

Hi Burnadette! Yes, you want the water to be close to room temperature so that the polish spreads out over the water. If the polish beads up and sinks to the bottom of the bucket then you know it’s too hot/cold. I don’t have a precise measurement on the amount of polish but it was more than just a couple of drops but less than the entire bottle. You can definitely do more than one color at once – just don’t wait too long too dip because the polish can dry out.

I love these! I am planning to decorate pots for planting with my 3rd graders. When you say it takes a lot of polish, how much are talking about? How many pots can you do from one bucket? I have 26 students. If you can give me an idea of how much I might need, that would be helpful.